Review of Mother of the Goddess' Dormitory
In case it wasn’t clear from the promotional material, Megami-ryou is a transparent appeal to lovers of ecchi harem fanservice. There is no attempt at constructing a continual narrative nor to create riveting characters who act in genuine ways. This is literally designed for the viewer to watch with their pants off as six girls all desire to hump one boy. If that sounds like something you’d be into, this show is golden. If not, you shouldn’t be watching. For those that fall into the intended audience - you’ll be pleased to know that this is not the type of ecchi that will manifest censorship beamsacross the bare bosoms and bottoms of the harem, only to later remove them in a BD release. The nudity was totally uncensored upon airing on ATX channels, as far as Japan’s decency laws will allow for, and delivers the goods within the first few minutes of episode one. You will see accidental groping of tits, accidental slipping into the missionary position in the bathroom, intentional stripping in front of the MC in order to attract his attention, and an endless amount of other scenarios that high level degens should be familiar with.
Megami-ryou also succeeds in having an aesthetically attractive and diverse best girl cast. You have the adorably naive, caring Athena who acts like an onee chan to the main character. She has nice tits. The shy goth cosplayer Frey who loves to use the MC as a fashion model. She has nice tits. The dorky bespeckled researcher Mineru...she has nice tits. There’s a loli, because why not. There’s a cute mysterious kuudere grill in Serene - ofc with pale blue hair, and a fiery tomboy with crimson red hair with tsun tendencies. Basically all the popular fantasy girl templates are present in the show - truly someone for everyone of the proud degens who watch the program.
The young main character - and I mean young, he's twelve, may be a turn off for many who prefer their harem leads to be peers to the girls that pursue their balls. Afterall most people who watch this program will be double the age of Koushi. But this does tap into a fetish that many degens have of seeing young, submissive leads receiving a crash course to puberty by the aggressive and fully developed beauties that surround them. Is it morally wrong for a twelve year old to be in such an environment? Yeah. But that's part of the appeal, I think, as being told something is forbidden can make it more tantalizing.
The immediate comparisons for this show are Asa Made Jugyou and, more recently, Sunohara-sou no Kanrinin-sa. Both revolved around a timid young boy surrounded by gorgeous girls who all find him adorable and crave his attention. Neither of these harems truly “went” anywhere insofar as intimacy or a conclusive ending, because that’s never the point of these shows, only to endlessly tease and explore the possibilities of what could occur in this fantasy scenario.
This however does raise a fair complaint concerning the cyclical, sexually non-committal ecchi of this nature though - wouldn’t this premise be better executed as a hentai? If you were in this situation as the MC, would you be able to resist the open invitations to have sexuale relations with with these girls as the MC never does? This is a common “problem” with full immersion into the ecchi genre as the decision making of the MCs is consistently unbelievable, minus a few rare cases. This problem in and of itself is why I’d have to dock the score a bit, despite being a success in ways that an ecchi is intended to be.
What you see is what you get here. This is very much so a derivative of past successes and isn’t reinventing the wheel in any shape or form. But because there is so rarely these days ecchi anime that are willing to be fully nude romps that showcases the female anatomy in ways the viewer wishes they could irl, this shines as a perverted wish fulfillment tool that harkens back to days where these types of shows were much more plentiful. For that reason it should be particularly celebrated as a recent success of the ecchi genre that has been starving for a bit for more bolder works.